Feminism making me look at everything in a different way

[raisinsraisins]

I blame MN!

Went into London today and got the tube home. There was a woman in my carriage, and then 3 men got on the next stop and sat near her. The men were talking/shouting loudly, playing music on their mobiles, sitting sprawled over lots of seats. Although they weren’t doing anything wrong, I found them a bit threatening. As soon as they got off the tube, the woman got out a sandwich to eat, she obviously didn’t feel comfortable to eat in front of the men.

Another example was yesterday when my DS showed me his school Leavers Video. I asked him why there were hardly any of the girls in the video, but mainly the boys, who were in charge of it all. He said that most of the girls didn’t want to be in the video as they were worried they didn’t look good without their makeup!

Just 2 examples that maybe would have just passed me by, but since getting more involved in feminism and WPUK I have really started noticing everything in a different way. Although that can only be a good thing, I do feel that it sometimes affects my relationship with my DH and DS’s due to my different viewpoints on things...

I think it’s almost worse to bring girls up to think they can be empowered

Yes. What shall I tell my young teenage dd when she wants to go out in a skirt that barely covers her bum?

I was brought up by my mum, grandma and aunt as my father left us. They always told me that women are stronger than men.
I don't let a man put me down either at work or socially but I had to learn to be more subtle as being very open about this earns you a "bossy" attitude. Sad but true.

I am raising my daughter to be the same x

Being 4’11 is surprisingly useful for playing patriarchy chicken.

I have to look up at pretty much everyone anyway so I don’t really give a fuck how much bigger they are.

This is very true - when everyone's so much bigger, what difference does a few more inches make :)

I tell you what, it's really made empathy with the kids easier for me than for DP too - I understand why a 3 year old finds the medium sized dog scary, it's because to him it's like coming eye to eye with a bull! DP just doesn't see it, because he's forgotten what it's like being a kid, and moves through the world as one of the biggest humans in it.

We all know that most women are stronger than most men. Why do you think they’re all so invested in the patriarchy? They need it to be that way because they know they probably wouldn’t stand a chance if things were truly on an equal standing.

I was thinking about women's strength watching Gentleman Jack.

Ann Lister was portrayed as being really something unusual for being tough and forthright, (quite apart from the lesbianism) but I know so many women like that and they have existed through history, and achieved a lot too. They have just been forgotten or men have taken their achievements.

I've just seen Rutherford & Son at the theatre - written by a woman in 1912, who has fallen into obscurity and originally presented, like JK Rowling as GK Sowerby to hide the fact she was a woman:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Githa_Sowerby

It was an excellent play.